Strangely
we’re in the Shepherds Bush Empire to see
a film. We’re up in the deserted first floor
balcony, with the VIPs. Not that we didn’t
pay our ten quid a head you understand (proceeds
to charity), it’s just that someone kindly
put us on the list, so we’ve been arm-banded
and escorted in. It’s empty because almost
all of the VIPs are in the bar, which is, as Jozzer
observed somewhat opaquely, “as full as a
duck’s arse” – another culinary
metaphor I suppose. On stage, performing some of
their very nice tunes, are the Alabama 3 Acoustic
line-up, of whom you will have read before.

The
film? Well that’s coming later – as
it turns out much later. Mr Segs is pacing around,
not looking too happy. “This has just all
got out of hand, it wasn’t meant to be this
big …” he says before being dragged
back to the bar. It’s the premiere of the
film made in July last year of the last Ruts
gig – featuring original members Dave Ruffy
on drums, Segs on bass, Paul
Fox on guitar, and guesting on vocals American
punk polymath Henry
Rollins. Original vocalist Malcolm
Owen died in 1980 at the height of the band’s
power from a heroin overdose. It’s a very
special gig because Fox – or should I say
– Foxy, was ill with terminal lung cancer
when it was made. He died a few months later.

If
fate hasn’t been kind to the Ruts then history
has. They were a politically-tinged band that emerged
from the Rock Against Racism movement of the late
seventies (whose formation was prompted, you may
recall, by racist remarks allegedly made by Rolex
Brand Ambassador and sometime musician Eric Clapton).

And
although not acknowledged at the time, they wrote
some of the most enduring songs of the era, which
have outlasted many of their contemporaries –
listen to many of them today and see how well they’ve
stood the test of time. To the point where many
critics now write of them as being one of the top
three punk bands (I guess the Clash is number one).
They were certainly hugely influential – that’s
why Rollins is in the film, as a one-time one-man
Ruts teenage fan club he couldn’t resist the
offer to come and play with them. And he’s
here tonight too.

Alabama
3 acoustic

But
before we get to the movie we have the music, as
an assembly of bands shamble to the stage to play
a handful of songs, their own, and the Ruts’,
starting with the Alabama 3. They were followed
by Dirty
Strangers, a band Fox played with after the
final break-up of Ruts DC (formed following Owen’s
death) in 1982. In their heyday the West London
Strangers could roll out Keith Richards and Ronnie
Wood on guitars, but tonight their only celebrity
is Fox’s son making a good fist of the drums.
Their highlight is an amusing (well it is if you
live in this part of town) ‘Shepherds Bush
City Limits’. What followed was P.A.I.N.
(it stands for Propaganda and Information Network)
– fronted by bandy-legged tartan-trousered
Phil Pain (of indeterminate age) who stumbled to
the microphone and introduced the first song–
“Oi oi! Fucking punk rock eh, fucking hell.
Here’s one for Foxy …”. They were
very noisy, and murdered the Ruts classic ‘Babylon’s
Burning’ before leaving the stage. Well they
didn’t really as Phil hung around swigging
vodka from a bottle leering at next up, Vice School,
a combination of musicians from Girlschool
and Vice Squad.
I think he must have had his eye on Beki Bondage.
Jozzer and I had our eye on the bar, returning in
time to catch the splendid TV
Smith doing a solo version of ‘Babylon’,
and then some Members of the
Members (not Nicky Tesco), fronted by Jean-Marie
Carroll, playing with varying degrees of efficiency
a pretty dreadful song ‘Mid-life crisis’
(sorry), their brilliant ‘Sound of the suburbs’
(remember that one?) and a decent bash at the Rut’s
“Jah War”. As the clock steadily progressed
they were followed by Captain Sensible who bashed
out ‘Neat neat neat’ and a couple of
others before being joined by Henry Rollins of Black
Flag fame for the Ruts’ ‘Staring at
the rude boys’, which was pretty good.

Captain
Sensible and Mr Segs

As
the equipment was eventually cleared Mr Segs stepped
up to say a few words on a lonely stage, to introduce
Dave Ruffy to draw the prize raffle (very church
hall I thought), and then Rollins, who prefaced
the film with some powerfully-spoken words about
the Ruts, and in particular about Fox, and his determination
to make the last gig. Actually very moving I thought
– even more so, when after the trail of warm-up
acts who preceded them on that night in July last
year (a sort of who’s who of punk) the Ruts
with Rollins took the stage. I have to say that
whilst the sound for the movie might not have been
perfect (hard to judge in a big theatre for which
I assume it was never intended) the filming was
very good, certainly far superior to many of the
“let’s knock up a quick DVD of the tour”
products that you get to see. And the Ruts with
Fox on pretty good form, their outstanding rhythm
section, and the hyper Rollins on vocals (“he’s
a fucking scary bloke” Mr Segs had told me)
were very good, very good indeed. As good a last
gig as you could want.

The
Members

And that wasn’t quite it, as the next night
we hoped along to the Hammersmith Apollo to watch
Henry Rollins’ ‘Spoken Word’.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but what
we got was a sort of superior stand-up comedy. Very
intense, highly accomplished but really not as challenging
or though-provoking an evening as I might have hoped
for. Mostly the stories surrounded a succession
of increasingly surreal trips to Islamic countries
(he was in Pakistan when Benazir Bhutto was murdered)
when Henry did this and Henry did that. The best
part of the night was when he spoke about his passion
for the Ruts, the rehearsals leading up to the gig,
his bewilderment at the Segs/Ruffy “lets go
down the pub” approach to problem solving
(he’s teetotal), and most of all the resolve
that Fox showed (in frankly unimaginable circumstances)
in making it happen. Buy the DVD – have a
look yourself, and see what I mean. - Nick Morgan
(concert photographs by Kate)Kate's
Ruts photo album